To list or to linger

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist

The first day of spring is just a few weeks away. Long lists of all the things that I will need to do fly about, crashing against the sides of my mind. Perhaps I should start to write them down, and figure out which should have priority, but not quite yet. I am still enjoying my early mornings sitting beside the woodstove, warm cup of coffee in hand.

It won't be long, though, before I no longer need to turn the porcelain handle, open the stove's door, and place logs across the embers. After I close the door and I wait for the flames to grow and warm the cabin, I sit back and listen as the house wakes up to the creaking of the stove pipe as it expands with the morning's first warmth. Sometimes I linger, and stay sitting beside the stove long after the fire has caught. I pause my morning routine simply for the joy of the fire's warming.

Soon though, I'll be able to sit out on the front porch, morning cup of coffee in hand, and watch the valley turning with the new season. I'll be able to kick back in my swing and listen to the birds calling from the hillside. The breeze will blow and I'll be able to watch the flutter of the new green leaves starting in the trees. The creek will run full through the valley, and I'll be able to hear its strong flow.

I smile when I remember that I'll have less spring laundry to do. With the warmer weather, we'll be wearing fewer layers of clothing, and my laundry basket won't fill quite so quickly. And then I won't be preparing those slow cook dinners anymore. I'll replace winter's pot roast, stew, and meatloaf with dinner salads, and I'll not only have far shorter preparation time, but far easier clean up.

Then, with the longer days, and more sun shining down on our solar panels, we won't have to continuously check the state of our batteries' charge before I do the laundry, or we decide to binge watch a streaming show. We can let our electric lights shine all night, and I can use my Dremel to etch rocks and gourds all day long if I desire. Greg can fabricate metal things in his machine shop, and I can run the lathe and saws in my wood shop to my heart's content.

So, I suppose that this new time of year really does bring things I can look forward to, things that don't require me to make long lists to run my finger down as I check off completed tasks.

My to-do lists might be long, but it's these other things that will keep me going. For now, though, I'll let my lists swirl unchecked. I'm still enjoying these chilly early mornings sitting beside the woodstove, warm cup of coffee in hand.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com.